I sort of missed most of Dec. in terms of news as I was quite busy, but I was aware that 2004 had been deemed "Year of the Blogger" or some such nonsense. All I could think was: this is the year of the blogger? where have these people been? Now it's mainstream? I don't consider myself very cutting edge and this site has existed in some incarnation for almost 3 and a half years. This is like the way fashion takes a year or two to make it's way down to kids in junior high school. It's been hip all along, you've just noticed it or it's just become accessible to you.
You would think someone who is in the blogging world and has one the blog receiving approximately 2 billion hits, would know this also. Seems to me that it isn't only political blogs that have made their mark and that someone in the blogosphere would know that. Imagine my surprise when coming across this post on Kos (pretty well know political blogger) writes on how he thinks sports blogs are the next big thing:
Kos
And that's what I love, for lack of a better word, about the blogger's world. There is a tendency to really analyze things in detail. Ultimately, because there is so much conversation and investigation on a site like yours, people may not ultimately agree with it, but they stumble onto what you're trying to do. Someone emailed me something written on a Cardinals' blog, and they had nailed all the things we were talking about. The economic reasons, the personnel reasons and the reasons we made the exchange. The world of a Web log will lend itself to a lot of investigation. And you will often stumble across the answer more than someone who has to write in two hours to meet deadline just to make sure something is out in the paper the next day.
Yeah yeah, this is navel gazing, but blogging isn't a phenomenon limited to the political realm. I believe sports blogging will be the next "Big Thing", which is why I've started a company in that realm (details coming soon). Tech bloggers led the way, even if political bloggers stole the big headlines. Blogs targeting various professions, like marketing, public relations, and the law are making their presence known in their respective markets.
This is a new era of grassroots media. While traditional journalists had to know a little bit about a lot of things, bloggers can focus on their areas of expertise. They can drill like no one else can.
Baseball's top GM understands it better than most. But it won't be long before it will be conventional wisdom. Not just in politics, not just in sports, but in every industry.
My first thought was: although I read Kos, it's interesting that I first discovered this post via a link from a sports blog (cursed to first), so who's zooming who?
My second thought was: alert Theo Epstein! If Mr. Moneyball says it's so, it must be so, eh?
But mostly I thought: how can he possibly think that sports blogs aren't as evolved as political blogs? And how can want to make money off it?-----
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Comments (3)
URL: http://www.upforanything.net
Well, I don't want to imply that these "professional" poker bloggers have money as their motivator. They were hired precisely because of their passion!
Posted by CJ | October 26, 2006 8:06 PM
Posted on October 26, 2006 20:06
URL: http://weblogs.livingreflections.com
Ah.. CJ has made me see this in a new light. Will sports blogs have "arrived" when people get paid to write them? Hmm..
Right now I enjoy sports blogs more than well known sports writers precisely because they write out of passion for the sport/team,etc. and don't have money as a motivator for what they write. I would really hate for that to change.
Posted by amy | October 26, 2006 8:06 PM
Posted on October 26, 2006 20:06
URL: http://www.upforanything.net
I tend to think Poker Blogging is the next big thing. My poker blog is now more popular than my standard blog and growing every month. The poker blogging community is growing faster than I can keep up. And now two poker bloggers have gotten professional web content jobs in just the last two months (including one who writes on my poker blog). It's crazy!!
Posted by CJ | October 26, 2006 8:06 PM
Posted on October 26, 2006 20:06